[Lifestayle] Nervous tics in children: should we be concerned?

[WilkerCSBD]

These involuntary movements are very common among minors and usually disappear on their own, so they are not usually a cause for alarm
All children are susceptible to having a tic, regardless of race or ethnic group.
All children are susceptible to having a tic, regardless of race or ethnic group.
CRISTINA BISBAL DELGADO

If we look at children around us, it is common to see that many of them make movements such as neck twisting, repetitive blinking, shoulder contraction, eye deviations…. These are tics or involuntary movements that can be motor or phonological (clearing, coughing, throat clearing), over which some control can be exercised. And they are quite frequent. In fact, some studies speak of 4%; although others go up to 20%.

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They are often somewhat scandalous and become annoying, more for the adults who are close, than for the children who suffer from them. Because in most cases "they have no pathological significance, but are the result of a maturing or developing brain," says Javier Pagonabarraga, member of the Movement Disorders Study Group of the Spanish Neurology Society (SEN) and a neurologist at the Movement Disorders Unit of the Neurology Service of Hospital San Pau in Barcelona.

It refers to developing brains because they usually begin in childhood, between 3 and 5 years of age and, in any case, “before the age of 15”, says Alba M.ª García Rasero, clinical neuropsychologist at the Clinical Psychology Center. And she continues: “in most cases, tics are usually exacerbated around 8 to 13 years. But from my clinical experience, around 15 or 16 they tend to disappear or the intensity is much lower ”.

Even more so if it is simple and / or transitory tics, that is, "when there are 2 or 3 tics, they are always the same and are very stable over time," says Pagonabarraga. In that case they resolve themselves and there are no reasons that cause them. The neuropsychologist comments: “Hereditary factors, neurobiological alterations, an affectation in the basal ganglia area and psychological factors, are the main ones implicated in the etiology of tics. In addition, some of the factors that tend to influence and can aggravate and increase tics are anxiety, boredom, fatigue and excitement ”.

It cannot be said that there is one type of child more prone to tics than another. "All children are susceptible to having a tic, regardless of race or ethnic group," says García Rasero. Although it is more prevalent among men. “Studies affirm that there are three times more men than women. And that is what we find in consultation, 90% of the consultations for any type of tic disorder are from families with boys ”. This percentage increases when they refer to complex tics or associated with ADHD, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or Tourette's syndrome, pathologies in which there is usually this type of symptomatology.

From what the experts say, there is no cause for concern in most cases. “Parents are often scared and that is also noticed by children, generating conflicts between children and parents, which can pathologize them. They even insist that they stop doing something the kids can't control. It is important to dismantle these ideas ”, indicates the neurologist at the Hospital San Pau in Barcelona, for whom the most appropriate thing is to minimize it in the presence of parents and children.

In fact, this neurologist believes that you only have to take them to the pediatrician in case the child feels upset by the restlessness that it causes or has a social impact. That is, that his companions laugh at him or for some reason affects his daily life. “In this case, the neurologist will have two options: the pharmacological one, in which we should start with the mildest treatments and advance to the strongest (leaving the best-known neuroleptics as the last option); and psychological techniques, for which a very well-trained professional is required ”. Apart from these cases, they only require medical intervention when attention problems are observed in the child and serve as a clue that the child has ADHD or OCD.